Mandatory age limit for Law College admission to be removed

The mandatory age limit for admission to the Sri Lanka Law College will be removed from next year, says Dr. W. D. Rodrigo, the principal.

At present, only persons between the age of 18 and 35 years are eligible for admission. This age barrier rule was imposed during the tenure of former Chief Justice Sarath Nanda Silva.

Its removal will enable any eligible person to enter the Law College from 2012, Dr. Rodrigo said.

He said the age barrier to enter the Law College was imposed to pave the way for younger students to enter the College to do their studies on a full-time basis rather than employed students.

The President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka Shibly Aziz said that there should not be any age barrier either to learn law or become a lawyer in this country.

A senior lawyer who asked not to be identified said an age limit to enter the Law College is unfair and needs to be removed.

The Sri Lanka Law College functions under the Council of Legal Education (under the Council of Legal Education Ordinance No. 2 of 1900) to administer legal education to persons who desire to be enrolled in the Bar of Sri Lanka. The Law College is the only Institution which offers a complete course of study leading to examinations for those desiring to qualify for admission to the profession.

To sit the entrance exam to enter the Law College the minimum qualification is passing of GCE O/L with two credits in English and First Language and three passes at the GCE A/L. English, Sinhala and Tamil are used as the medium of instruction.

As at today, while other Institutions (eg. University of Colombo, the Open University of Sri Lanka and University of Jaffna) offer academic courses leading to a degree or other academic qualification relating to law, persons become eligible to practice the law only after admission to the profession as provided for in the Rules of the Council of Legal Education. Thus, the Law College is the only gateway to the legal profession in Sri Lanka. Members of the profession are called Attorneys-at-Law.